Portable Colour Contrast Analyser

People may have different views on what readability entails, and this is perfectly reasonable especially since objective factors might influence an individual's  sight. That is to mean it is quite difficult to find a standard that would cater to the needs and eyes of each and every one of us, and graphic designers are the ones who struggle the most with this inconvenience.

For this reason, employing a software utility capable of calculating the degree of contrast and readability of your text against various design elements could reduce the risk of subjectivity, with a program such as Portable Colour Contrast Analyzer claiming to do just that for you.

As its name makes it clear, the tool is packed as a portable application, which means you can carry it around on a USB stick and have it running on any machine without worrying about intricate setup operations.

The program is capable of providing you with a pass or fail assessment that refers to WCAG 2.0 color contrast success criteria as a standard. You simply need to select a color for your foreground as well as background, with the possibility of resorting to the integrated palette or a color picker so that you can test any chromatic element on your screen, outside the application itself.

The results are displayed at the bottom of the page, with a compact report informing you about the contrast ratio as well as how different font sizes can handle the colors you selected. Note that copying the results to your clipboard is possible in case you want to integrate them with your research.

Aside from that, the program can perform multiple simulations so that you can know what your design looks like through the eyes of people suffering from color blindness. To be more specific, the tool can show you your screen as perceived by users affected by one of the following conditions: protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia, or cataracts. Besides, you can check your design in inverted colors or grayscale.

It is worth pointing out that all these simulations can be carried out for your entire screen, a currently open window, or an image.

Users should know that the program ran seamlessly during our tests, and no inconveniences affected its performance. Taking this into account as well as the applicability of such a tool, we recommend Portable Colour Contrast Analyzer to any user who wants to test the contrast and readability of a website, image, or application without investing too much effort in the process.